-The WWE decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary (and unlike the WM 25 math, this really was the 20th anniversary) of WrestleMania III by returning to Detroit. Ford Field is a big ass building, and the crowd is massive. This would have been a great time to bring back the motorized ring carts, but no dice.

-I know I mention it all the time, but nothing beats the opening video packages for WrestleMania. After the package we actually start out with the opening moments of WrestleMania III before cutting to Ford Field. In a great touch they use Vince’s introduction of Aretha Franklin from 1987 to introduce her here. There were reports Shane wanted to do it, but I like it this way better. Naturally, Aretha knocks it out of the park again with “America the Beautiful.”

-Another video package that focuses on the current stars dreaming of this day as younger kids, and now they are all grown up.

-This year they increased the participants by two, and loaded the match with a lot of star power to go with the young guys. They kind of accidentally screwed things up with Edge here, but I’ll get to that later. Very tentative start as everyone just stares at each other. Eventually, everyone hits the floor to brawl, so Finlay comes off the top with a crossbody onto the pile. Edge takes this as a chance to sneak up a ladder, but Matt stops that. Now Finlay and Orton brawl on the ladder before it gets tipped. Jeff takes a go up the ladder and Kennedy stops that. Booker pulls out a step ladder in a funny moment. Edge decides to use that as a weapon and destroys Punk with a sick shot with that step ladder. That draws juice from Punk. A ladder gets bridged from the apron to the barrier and that won’t be good for someone. JR mentions that Edge is looking to go 6-0 at WrestleMania in this match. Booker clears the ring and gives us a spin-a-rooni to a huge pop. The Hardys return and take King Booker out of the match. The Hardys set up Edge for the see saw spot, but Finlay shoves Jeff off the tope rope to the floor. Matt ends up getting suplexed onto the see sawed ladders in a nasty spot. Kennedy tries a Kenton Bomb onto Matt, but he moves and Kennedy hits ladder. Jeff comes back and hits the Swanton onto the prone Kennedy. The Hardys head up the ladder and trade blows over the briefcase. Finlay tips over the ladder leaving both Hardys to crash and burn. Finlay tries to abuse everyone with the ladder, but Edge drops him with a spear. He goes spear crazy and lays out everyone except Punk, who gets out of the way with a leap frog. Punk, your ECW rep in the match, goes Terry Funk with the ladder and spins around to take out everyone else in the match. Edge introduces the super sized ladder as JR again mentions he has never lost at WrestleMania. Edge climbs, but his partner, Orton, tips the ladder over and Edge crashes to the floor. Damn! Jeff returns to take out Orton, and then the craziest spot of the match comes next. Jeff climbs the insanely large ladder and delivers an ass bomb (as my friend called it) to Edge who was lying on the bridged ladder. That was ridiculous! The paramedics come down to take Edge out on a stretcher. Orton gets things started again as he snaps off a RKO to anyone who comes near him. He makes the climb, but CM Punk stops that noise by tossing a ladder at Orton. Effective! Orton and Punk battle on separate ladders, and Punk ends up eating a RKO from the top of the ladder. Holy Hell! King Booker looks to pick the bones and heads up, but Orton meets him. He looks for the RKO again, but Booker ends up hitting a Book End from the top of the ladder. Again, Holy Hell! Now Matt Hardy stops Booker and that brings Sharmell into the ring. Matt threatens to give her the Twist of Fate and Booker opts to save his wife instead of grabbing the briefcase. Finlay comes back to deliver the Celtic cross to Matt on the ladder. Good Lord! Finlay is also sporting blood as it pours from the top of his head. He is the only one in the ring and struggles to climb (Styles covers by saying Finlay isn’t comfortable on ladders). Hornswoggle enters and opts to climb the ladder for Finlay. Kennedy returns and meets Hornswoggle at the top of the ladder. We get midget abuse (a shout out to WrestleMania III) as Kennedy brings Hornswoggle down off the ladder with the Green Bay Plunge. Punk returns and is the freshest man in the ring as he starts to climb. Kennedy gets a shot in and they battle just below the briefcase. Kennedy gets a finger, but Punk kicks him off and looks to get the win. Kennedy kills him with a ladder shot to the face, and its easy pickings from there as Kennedy grabs the briefcase at 19:09.

Winner: Mr. Kennedy via briefcase retrieval at 19:09
-Kennedy seemed like a logical choice, but this may comes as a shock to some, injuries killed his push. JR kept mentioning Edge being undefeated at WrestleMania, and it sucks it ended like this. Hindsight is a great thing, but Edge having that streak intact against Taker probably would have been better. They easily could have done something else with Edge at this show (especially since he didn’t even make it through the entire match). Why not give us Orton/Edge here? It worked surprisingly well on RAW a few weeks later. Now as for the match it delivered as expected. In these matches you expect crazy ass spots and memorable moments and we got a lot of those here. ****

The Great Khali vs. Kane

-Word was that this could have been Hogan against the Great Khali and perhaps it would have involved the Trump/McMahon story, but it wasn’t to be. Kane was coming off his “See No Evil” role and was carrying around his metal hook from that movie. They actually start with a tie up and Kane gets overpowered. He tries a shoulder tackle, but Khali won’t budge. Khali tosses him to the floor and then poses to the crowd. Kane tries a right hand and again nothing doing. Kane gets dropped with one clothesline and gets slammed to the mat. Khali locks in a nerve hold as the crowd continues to catch their breath from the last match. They brawl in the corner as JR starts tossing around the term “bowling shoe ugly.” He’s never seen my pimp bowling shoes apparently. Kane finally gets some momentum going and that gets the crowd back into the match. He heads up top and staggers Khali with the flying clothesline. A big boot sends Khali into the ropes where he gets tangled in a spot that Andre the Giant used to love doing. Kane heads to the floor and grabs his hook and chain. The ref unties Khali and he catches Kane on the way back into the ring. Khali rips the turnbuckle off exposing the steel, but that gives Kane a chance to deliver a low blow. He slams Khali to a huge pop as JR spouts off about it being shades of WrestleMania III. Um, no! Khali shakes off the slam though and finishes with the Tree Slam and a 1 foot pin at 5:31. After the match Khali chokes Kane with the chain. Guess he shouldn’t have brought it to the ring.

Winner: The Great Khali via pin at 5:31
-At least they kept it short, and no rest holds. Khali was being pushed pretty hard and thanks to injuries at the top of the card, the big man would get a run with World Title later in the year. The match was pretty horrible though. 3/4*

-Cryme Tyme cheers up a dejected Eugene backstage with Extreme Expose. Eugene is more interested in Moolah and Mae however. A party breaks out and we get cameos from Slick, Dusty, Slaughter, Jimmy Hart, IRS (awesome), and then Ricky Steamboat (hell yeah). Enter Ron Simmons: “DAMN.” Good times here.

-MVP debuted the previous fall and got put in a program with Kane and Taker before being given this opportunity with Benoit. MVP gets a extra special entrance with some cheerleaders. Benoit controls early with basic mat wrestling, but MVP hangs with him. He floats over into a headlock, but Benoit fights back to his feet. He looks for a German suplex, but MVP has Benoit well scouted and he blocks. Benoit then tries for the crossface, but again, MVP is one step ahead. The story so far has been that MVP has been one step ahead of Benoit and is countering all of his trademark offense. MVP finally makes a mistake with a blind charge and eats a boot. Benoit preps him for the superplex, but again, MVP counters by dropping Benoit’s arm over the top rope as he drops to the floor. MVP starts to work in the injured arm and shoulder, but for some reason the crowd just isn’t into this match. They wake up once Benoit snaps off the Triple Germans however. Benoit heads up for the headbutt, but again MVP is one step ahead, and hits a superplex. Benoit hooks his legs though as they land and gets a fluke two count. MVP stays in control though as he sends Benoit shoulder first into the ring post. A nice belly to back suplex follows, but it only gets two. Frustration is starting to set in for MVP, but he remains in control. He hits the boot, but again, Benoit is out at two. Out of nowhere, Benoit looks for the crossface, but the arm is too damaged and he can’t get the hold applied properly. MVP gets another near fall of the Ballin’ elbow. He looks for another boot in the corner, but Benoit moves and fires off 2 German suplexes. The third is reversed, but eventually Benoit hits it and then delivers two more for good measure. The crowd is solidly behind Benoit as he heads up top for the flying headbutt. It connects and that’s enough for the pin at 9:19.

Winner and Still United States Champion: Chris Benoit via pin at 9:19
-Solid story, but things were hurt a little by the lack of time. They would have several more matches that improved on this one, but MVP proved here that he could hang with someone like Benoit. **3/4

-Donald Trump no sells the Boogeyman in a backstage segment. Weird!

-Lillian announces the attendance of 80,103 is a new Ford Field record.

-The Undertaker became the first person to win the Rumble as the final entrant, and he picked Batista as his opponent. The story here is that Batista is not intimidated by The Undertaker and is prepared to go toe to toe with the Phenom. Expectations were kind of low on this one, but chemistry is a funny thing. The Undertaker is 14-0 at Mania heading into this match. The opening bell sounds and Batista immediately hits a spear. Sweet! That only pisses Taker off though and he starts unloading in the corner. Taker chases the ref away, so Batista comes back and throws Taker into the crowd to hit some rights of his own. They brawl to the floor and Batista gets the upper hand while the crowd boos. Taker gets fired into the steps and he takes the bump like Foley as he bounces over them. Nice! Taker heads back in the ring and Batista comes off the top with a shoulder block for two. Wow, Batista channeling his inner AJ here. Well, not really, but still. Taker hits a boot, but Batista just shrugs that off and kills Taker with a clothesline. Big Dave looks for another boot, but Taker catches and starts firing off rights. They begin exchanging blows and that gives the crowd the chance to cheer and boo with each blow (much like HHH/Cena from the previous year). The Undertaker takes control and gets a two count off a big boot, leg drop. Guess he’s not Hogan. Old School follows, but Batista fights out of the chokeslam. Taker ducks a clothesline and hits a sloppy version of his leaping clothesline. It looked more like a Thesz press actually. The two men head back to the floor, and Batista gets sent into the steps. Taker sets Batista up on the apron and drops the leg much to the approval of the crowd. Since its WrestleMania, Taker pulls out the no hands Flying Dead Man over the top rope to the floor. Crazy shit! Batista fights back as he sends Taker into the timekeeper. Big Dave is angry now as he pounds away on Taker and starts prepping the announce tables. The ref has lost control and while he counts every now and then there’s no way we’re getting a count out. In great spot Batista hits a powerslam from one announce table to another. Holy Shit! Once back in the ring, Dave looks for the pin, but Taker is out at two. Taker starts to show signs of life as he works Batista over in the corner. It doesn’t last long though as Batista snaps off a belly to belly suplex. Batista makes the mistake seemingly everyone makes as he climbs the ropes to punch away at Taker. That only puts him in position for the Last Ride and sure enough Taker delivers the move for a two count. Batista stays in control though as he hits a spinebuster. He starts to Warrior-up, but Taker waits on him and hits the chokeslam for two. Taker goes for the Tombstone, but Batista slides off and hits a spear. He snaps off the Batista Bomb, but Taker rolls the shoulder at two. The crowd loves every second of this match. Batista looks for second one, but Taker counters with a backdrop. Dave then gets stupid and looks for a Tombstone. Taker is like “Bitch please,” as he counters easily to his own Tombstone and that finishes things at 15:17.

Winner and New World Heavyweight Champion: The Undertaker via pin at 15:47
-These two had crazy ass chemistry, and this may have been the weakest of their three PPV matches from that year. I personally like their Cyber Sunday match the best, but this had a much bigger feel being at WrestleMania. Still, this was a high quality power match with no rest holds. Good stuff all around. ***3/4

-Creepy backstage segment with Vince, Steph, and Stephanie/HHH’s new baby. Naturally it ends with BM humor.

-It’s a nice moment seeing the Originals enter through a crowd of 80,000 people after spending years killing themselves in front of crowds of less than 800. Striker starts with Sabu and it doesn’t go very well for young Matthew. Sabu bounces all over the ring as he doesn’t give Striker a chance to breath. The Sandman gets the tag and drops a leg, but Cor Von breaks the cover. Burke gets the tag and he gets double teamed by Dreamer and the Sandman. Ariel distracts Tommy (he always seems to have a problem with women) and that gives the New Breed the advantage. Styles points out that RVD is the only person in this match to have ever competed at WrestleMania. Burke hits the Elijah Express, but Sandman breaks the pin attempt. Thorn gets his chance to shine and locks in a chinlock. Really, in a 8 mag tag? Just fucking tag someone else. Thankfully Dreamer breaks, but he runs into a sit-out spine buster. That’s better. Cor Von gets the tag as Tommy is your innovator in peril. Cor Von dominates with his power game, but he gets caught with a slop drop. Burke tries to break and he gets caught with a neckbreaker at the same time. Cool! The hot tag is made to RVD and looks for the Frog Splash, but instead he hits Thorn with a flying kick. RVD hits Rolling Thunder on Striker, but Cor Von pulls him out of the ring and destroys him with a clothesline. Sabu comes off onto both of them, and that leaves Dreamer inside to hit a DDT on Striker. Elijah sends Dreamer to the floor, but the Sandman hits a Cactus clothesline that takes both of them to the floor. RVD gets off the floor and heads up top to deliver the Frog Splash to Striker. That gets the pin at 6:27.

Winners: The ECW Originals via RVD pin on Striker at 6:27
-This was a feel good moment for the ECW Originals and fans of ECW. They would have an Extreme Rules rematch on Sci Fi shortly after that blew this match out of the water. Try to find that one if you can. **

-Lashley is the reigning ECW Champion and Umaga is the Intercontinental Champion, but neither title is on the line here. Whatever man loses this match, their billionaire gets their head shaved. Steve Austin is also the special referee. Everyone including the barber’s chair get their own introduction. Seriously! Hundred dollar bills fall from the sky as Trump makes his entrance. Why couldn’t they drop money when I was at WrestleMania XXV? Obviously, this match has become a little more depressing due to the passing of Umaga. His Last Man Standing Match with Cena at the Rumble was his best, but this was the highest profile match of his career. This match gives Lawler the chance to run through all his jokes about being rich. These entrances have eaten up a shit load of time. McMahon tries to get Umaga fired up on the floor before he enters the ring. The two men charge at each other, but neither gives any ground. Lashley controls early with right hands and backs Umaga into the corner. Austin makes Lashley break and the crowd wants a stunner. Umaga misses a splash, and Lashley comes off the middle ropes with a shoulder block. Estrada puts Umaga’s foot on the ropes to break the count. Lashley pulls Estrada into the ring and takes him out with a running powerslam. Umaga charges, but Lashley moves and Umaga takes a sick bump over the top to the floor. In a funny moment Umaga shows concern for Estrada and McMahon basically tells him to forget about him. Ha! Lashley charges, but now Umaga sidesteps and Lashley ends up getting tossed through the ropes to the floor. Umaga controls with a choke and he won’t break the hold, so Austin breaks. Again, the crowd wants a stunner. This time Austin pulls Umaga’s hair to get him to break the choke hold. That gives Lashley a chance to regroup, but a sick clothesline ends that rally. Umaga uses his girth to squash Lashley, and that puts a big smile on Vince’s face. Lashley fires back, but again his momentum gets stopped, and this time with a Samoan Drop. Lashley tries a slam, but he suffers the same fate Hogan did anytime he tried to slam someone big. McMahon gets the apron, but Lashley knocks him off when he bounces off the ropes. Umaga channels Ric Flair and heads up top, but much like Flair it backfires and he gets slammed to the mat. A clothesline from Lashley gives Umaga the chance to do a 360 sell off the move. Austin starts the 10 count, but stops at 9. He announces there will be no count-outs in the match. Shane heads down to check on Vince while Umaga pounds away on Lashley in the corner. He won’t break however, so Austin gets physically involved. Shane distracts Austin and that gives Umaga a chance to drop Austin with the Samoan Spike. Shane fires some rights at Lashley, and Umaga hits the corner butt splash. That was always a visually sick move. Vince pulls out a trashcan and Shane goes coast to coast with the dropkick. Sweet! Shane pulls off his shirt to reveal a ref’s shirt and Umaga comes off the top with a splash. Austin stops the count though and heads back into the ring, but Umaga catches him with another right hand. McMahon talks shit to Austin, so Trump comes over and drops him with a clothesline. Umaga eats a stunner from Austin, and Lashley hits the spear to get the pin at 13:04. After the match Shane takes a Stunner from Austin as Vince tries to sneak up the ramp. Lashley runs him down though and brings him back to the ring where he eats a Stunner. Lashley and Trump take clippers to Vince and as promised he gets his head shaved bald. That also kills any rumors that Vince was wearing a rug all those years. After using the clippers they add some shaving cream and pull out a razor to finish the job. Trump gets a stunner (which he takes horribly) after the match. Lashley’s the only person involved not to eat a stunner, which, I guess is one way to put him over.

Winner: Bobby Lashley via pin at 13:04
-Like any McMahon match at WrestleMania this was over booked all to hell, but that’s generally a good thing. Sadly, the crowd was more concerned with Austin, Shane, Vince, and Trump more than they were the two men involved in the match. This was more about spectacle that any actual match, so it kind of worked. The crowd wanted to see someone get shaved bald and they wanted to see some stunners. That’s what we got. **1/2

-Ashley was the Diva Search Champion the previous year and posed for Playboy heading into WrestleMania. This match is a Lumber Jill match with all the rest of the Divas surrounding the ring. They take turns choking each other with a boot in the corner. Melina swings Ashley, but it only gets two. Melina uses a fucked up version of a bow and arrow. Ashley hits a monkey flip and its kind of sad the only cheering is coming from the Divas around the ring. I mean the crowd is just gone at this point. Thankfully, Melina finishes with a roll-up at 3:13. The other Divas finally get involved after the match and that gets a pop from the crowd.

Winner and Still WWE Women’s Champion: Melina via pin at 3:13
-Horrible match with a dead crowd. The stipulation didn’t even factor into the match. I guess they were there to give the crowd a breather before the Main event, but damn. DUD

-This was supposed to HHH/Cena II, but a torn quad back in January killed that plan. So, HHH’s tag partner gets the shot instead after beating Orton and Edge in a Triple Threat match. Cena and Michaels won the Tag Titles from Rated RKO and being Shawn has turned on every partner he’s ever had that was the story heading to Mania. Eventually he did drop Cena with the superkick and the crowd loved every second of it. Shawn and Cena are still the Tag Champs heading into this match. Shawn’s skin tone got an orange vibe going as he must have spent the last 2 days in Detroit in a tanning bed. Speaking of Hogan, Shawn seemingly took a shot at Hulk on his DVD that has always irritated me. He said to the camera “I drew 80,000 fans to Detroit, brother. Have you ever done that?” I really hope that wasn’t a shot at Hogan, because if it was, Shawn must have been on some good shit when Hogan drew 90,000 (yeah, yeah, I know it’s debated) at WrestleMania III. Ok, rant over, as Cena gets his super special WrestleMania entrance. This year he “drives” into the arena in a Ford Mustang, Fast and the Furious style. Cena has dominated the title picture as he’s held the WWE title for 20 of the last 24 months (with Edge and RVD holding the title between them the other 4 months). JR puts over Michael’s big match abilities. Michaels opens things up by slapping Cena and then avoiding the right hands. He drops Cena with some rights and gives him a DX crotch chop for good measure. Michaels goes with the game plan HHH had a previous year (geez that worked so well for him) and outwrestles Cena to start. Shawn looks great early on as he beats Cena to the punch at every turn. He talks some shit and Cena looks rattled. Shawn lets him know that his chest is a little red following the knife edge chops. Heh! More basic wrestling from Shawn as he takes Cena down with a side headlock. Cena fights to his feet, and after missing twice, finally hits a clothesline to send Michaels to the mat. The crowd didn’t like that one bit. Michaels hits a Thesz press and fires away with rights. He avoids getting sent to the floor though and fights off Cena from the apron. Cena ends up getting hip tossed over the top to the floor. On the floor Shawn fires off some chops and hits an enziguiri. Shawn hits the Asai moonsault, but it looked like Shawn took the worst of the move as his knees smacked off the announce table. Sweet! Back inside the ring, Shawn continues to dish out the chops, and they sound awesome. Cena tries to get a boot up to stop a charging Shawn, but Michaels catches the leg and targets that now. He isolates the leg and bounces it off the ring post. A few chop blocks continue the damage to the left leg. This gives something to Shawn to work with for the next few minutes as he systematically destroys the left knee. Lawler puts over the fact that so far Michaels has made Cena look bad in the match. The crowd starts the Boo/Yeah thing as Shawn fires off chops and Cena uses his right hand. Shawn goes right back to the knee once he starts losing the exchange. Michaels charges, but Cena moves out of the way and Shawn hits his head on the ring post. That draws blood and now Cena has an opening. The crowd roasts Cena as he goes to work on the cut. He runs through his patented offense and tells Shawn he can’t see him. The five knuckle shuffle follows and Cena readies for the FU. Shawn slides off though, but gets sent into the corner where he takes his trademark bump. Cena looks for the FU on the rebound, but again Shawn is out the back door. Shawn looks for the super kick, but Cena ducks and the ref eats the kick. Cena goes for the FU again, and Shawn counters this time with a DDT. Shawn resorts back to his old ways as he realizes there is no ref. He delivers a sick piledriver to Cena on the steps. Fucking Eh! That’s one good thing about the WWE limiting the use of the piledrive. When they do use the move it means a lot more. Cena got split open on the back of his head following the move. A new ref sprints to the ring, but it took too long and Cena is out at two. Michaels hits the flying forearm, and kips up to a huge pop. The flying elbow hits the mark, and Shawn starts to tune up the band. Cena doesn’t give him the chance though as he dives at Shawn with a clothesline. Well, that’s one way to stop it. They go back to exchanging blows and that gives the crowd another chance to boo and cheer when needed. Cena again wins the exchange and looks for the FU, but Shawn crawls down his back to get a roll up for two. Michaels gets caught trying a leap frog and Cena counters to the FU. Nice! He takes too long before covering though and Shawn is able to get the shoulder up at two. I love the fact that after Shawn countered every FU attempt, it took Cena countering a move from Michaels to finally hit the FU. Cena gets inspired and tries the FU from the top, but Shawn shoves him off and tries a crossbody. Cena rolls through though and sets off one of the craziest reversal sequences you will ever see. Cena tries the FU, but Shawn lands on his feet. He looks for Sweet Chin Music, but Cena ducks and goes for the STFU. Shawn counters that and gets a small package for two. Good shit there! Shawn tries another enziguiri, but Cena counters and finally gets the STFU, but Shawn gets to the bottom rope. Cena argues with the ref, and he pays for it as Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music. He can’t cover soon enough though and Cena is out at two. Both men are out and they stagger to their feet using each other to balance themselves. Cena gets a rush of adrenaline and tries another FU, but Shawn counters again, but Cena counters that to the STFU. Shawn suffers the same fate as HHH and taps at 27:48. Shawn won’t shakes hands after the match and looks quite pissed. Cool!

Winner and Still WWE Champion: John Cena via tap-out at 27:48
-The opening minutes kind of dragged, but everything after Shawn started targeting the knee was gold. Shawn’s hot streak at WrestleMania continues. ****1/4

-The recap package closes the show and it may be my favorite one ever at WrestleMania as it splices in footage of this WrestleMania with WrestleMania III footage.

The 411: Money in the Bank and the WWE Title match delivered as expected. Once you add in the shocking awesomeness of Taker/Batista and Vince getting his head shaved, you have a damn fine WrestleMania. Not as good as the previous year, but still a damn fine show.